


Frayed

by thaliachaunacy (thalialunacy)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Break Up, F/F, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-18
Updated: 2007-10-18
Packaged: 2017-10-26 15:28:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/284861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thalialunacy/pseuds/thaliachaunacy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Ginny & Luna break up. There's knitting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frayed

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so I wrote this in like... two hours, tops. Brought to you by [CuriosityKate](http://curiositykate.livejournal.com) and the letter Y. All mistakes are my own; if you find one let me know. Although--don't correct the Americanism that is the word 'yarn'-- said CuriosityKate is British. ;) Two words stolen from _Sports Night_. Enjoy if you must, but I'll warn you--it's not about joy. It made the author cry.
> 
> Ah, catharsis.

"I cannot _believe_ you just said that! You--you--mental patient!" Ginny shouted, her voice high and strong.

Luna felt novas of guilt explode in her belly, and started shrinking, her body pulling inwards until all that was left were the words running ceaselessly. And carelessly, it seemed.

"I didn’t--I didn’t mean it." The lock of hair twirling in her hand became a knot, and she stared at it. It didn’t want to unravel nearly as quickly as everything else. "I mean, I did mean it, but not like--that--and not like you--you--"

"What, not like I _took_ it? Even though I took it in the most obvious, logical, _sane_ way possible?"

She was tired of the stinging. "Stop saying it like that. Stop using that word."

"No. Not when it’s still true."

She just looked at the knot in her hair. It was starting to hurt, down to the very tips. "It will always be true." _I thought you knew that_ sat in the room with them, but didn’t make a noise.

With a sound of disgust, Ginny banged through the doorway and out into the daylight.

***

Stars twinkled and the moon lit her landing when Ginny soared back into her yard. Their yard, she corrected herself, although she was the only one that took interest in it. Luna would rather have the gnomes take over in a grand coup of dirt and mayhem.

 _Barking_. She touched down, tucked her broom into the corner of the porch, and opened the door gingerly. She did not want to have to do this. But it needed to be done.

She took in a deep breath. The same smells greeted her, and none made her smile anymore.

"Luna?"

There was a sound from upstairs. She knew where. She took the stairs swiftly, ready to get it over with.

Yet, once in the doorway, she paused.

Luna sat on the floor, still, beside a large wooden chest which looked like it had vomited up a rainbow. Yarn was strewn everywhere, the colors beyond recognizing in their haphazard arrangement. Luna’s utterly disheveled hair shared space with small wisps of fiber, their cousins surrounding her on the floor and strung across random fragments of her clothing. Leftover swatches and half-begun project scraps clung to her sleeves and mingled with the other colors aimlessly.

One piece fluttered to the floor, and Ginny looked up to see Luna holding something large and lumpy—and a bit garish—up to her.

"Here."

Ginny, startled, reached out automatically and closed her hands around the gift.

"It’s purple," she heard Luna say. The heaviness at the bottom of her stomach churned at her. "I know. It’s purple and red and I know they don’t work together, and you hate one and I hate the other, but--" Sounds of Luna righting herself made Ginny look up, up into blue eyes she didn’t remember being quite that clear. "But that’s her yarn." Luna nodded vaguely towards it, looking away, picking strands of color off her shoulder and letting them drift down towards the wooden chest.

"Mum’s," Ginny managed, looking down again, filled with something that made her throat tight.

"Right, the purple. Ron had it."

Ginny swallowed. "And the red?"

"And the red is your dad’s, the only bit we could find." Luna’s fingers had thrown down the last stray piece of yarn, and Ginny finally knew where she’d had been running off to in the evenings.

"But he never--"

"He was making one for you," Luna continued airily, "right before he they killed him. Molly talked him into it, told him it was endearing. He used to knit when they were young, in love, then stopped..."

"When Bill was born. Mum told me, right after they found his body, but I didn’t believe it. It was ridiculous, to be talking about knitting hours after her husband...had been...I just thought she was--"

Lightening shot through her and she looked up. "...mad with grief."

Luna finally smiled. "So I found what I could and finished what he started." Ginny watched the piece of strangely untangled hair twirl round and round Luna’s fingers. "He so very much loved you."

The space between them seemed far too large, but before Ginny could quarrel, Luna turned away. The heavy lid of the chest banged down as Luna spoke. "I’ll go now." There would be no more talk, Ginny knew thoroughly. Negotiations had been over for a while.

Luna moved towards the exit, past Ginny, pausing only to kiss her once, but not lingering, and the kiss was chilly. Ginny saw shine on her eyes, felt some on her own, and looked away.

Her eyes stayed on the wooden chest as the footsteps made their way down the stairs. Her fingers glided over the fabric in her hands. When she heard the front door close, she slid the sweater over her head, nearly smiling when the arms went past her wrists and the collar dipped in unpredictable places. Her fingers itched where they touched the soft, complex fabric with its unforgivingly mismatched colors. Her eyes smarted a little, and she thought of her parents.

But she didn’t cry.

 _"It’s the easiest thing in the world, Ginny. You just slip it in, wrap the yarn around, then take it out and let it fall. And you’ve made something. That’s all."_


End file.
